How to Build Landing Pages That Convert
Let's face it – the vast majority of your traffic does not convert. Data suggests that 98% of the people who visit your website do not complete the desired action.
Getting traffic to your website is undoubtedly important. It helps you increase brand awareness and introduces your product or service to the target audience. The hard truth is that getting all this traffic doesn't necessarily mean that your business goals are being met. Your traffic doesn't really matter if it doesn't bring you conversions.
That does not, however, mean that there's nothing you can do about it. PlayAttack has gathered some tips that will help you get to the core of the problem and redefine the way you design your landing pages.
Lure Your Audience In By Offering Something In Exchange
From our experience, the most successful landing pages are the ones that offer something for free in exchange for conversions. You can, for instance, ask users to submit their email or sign up at your website to get access to a useful guide you've compiled that will help them elevate their business.
The trick here is to determine what is going to have an undeniable value to your target audience. Software companies, for instance, usually provide demos for the users to test their product before they make the buying decision.
Dedicate some time to think about it. Perform keyword research, define your audience's intent, and try to solve a problem they might be facing. It is essential to remember that the most significant part of your audience lands on your website to either learn about something, solve a specific problem, or simply because there's something in it for them.
It is, therefore, essential to keep your audience engaged by addressing these queries on your landing page. The great part is that by offering something in exchange for the desired action, you also get to achieve some of your business targets. Getting users to submit their email, for instance, might be useful for your retargeting campaigns. By getting them to subscribe to your newsletter, you get to grow your contact list and increase your chances to showcase your brand and potentially get a sign up at a later stage.
Optimize Your Landing Page To Achieve Maximum Conversions
In this section, we'll dive into certain key factors that need to be considered when you're trying to build a converting landing page.
- Highlight Your Argument In the Headline
There are numerous discussions on the process of crafting perfect headlines. While writing abstract or artsy headlines might work for feature articles, these are not ideal for your landing pages. When you're writing a headline for a landing page, your main goal is to convince your audience to perform the desired action. Trying to grasp their attention by using incomplete, grande arguments won't do. An ideal headline showcases your main argument or the undeniable benefit that your business has to offer.
- Write Killer Copy In Your Main Body
Rule number one – try not to be boring! If people get bored while scrolling through your landing page, you have most likely lost the opportunity, and they won't convert. Write down some bullet points to summarize your arguments, instead of presenting them within lengthy paragraphs. Landing pages that contain a specific, concise message, tend to be performing much better.
You should also try and find an optimal structure to follow when writing up content for your landing page. Check out the copywriting PAS formula, for instance. PAS stands for pain, agitate, and solve. Start off by identifying a certain problem your target audience has and highlight the potential effects these issues might have on their business. After outlining the problem, present your product or service as the solution to their problem.
- Make It Spark, And Make It Shine!
Your design has to be killing it! We live in an image-first world, and businesses are now paying more attention to their visual identity. And so does your audience. Using attention-grabbing, neat visuals will help you elevate your brand and grasp the audience's attention.
Study color psychology and decide what colors will serve the purpose of increasing your conversion rates. Go beyond stock images, and create a brand identity by making it more personal. You can also consider using video, which does a great job of showcasing your company's identity and creates increased levels of trust by emotionally triggering your audience. Video is also a great way to address power skimmers.
- Dedicate Some Time to Your Opt-in Form
There are many aspects you need to consider when designing your opt-in form. Let's take, for instance, the number of fields the users are required to fill in. You'll need to figure out the right balance between getting the information you need about your target audience and not over-boring them. Other things that'll you need to work on are the content and the color of your CTA buttons. It has also been reported that including a privacy notice might positively contribute to your conversion rates.
- Test Your Practices
Incorporating all these aspects won't necessarily yield the best possible results. This is where A/B testing comes into play. You can perform A/B tests to evaluate whether the changes in the color scheme cause a spark in conversion rates. You can also change your image, or reduce the length of your text to evaluate the impact of these changes on your conversion rates. It is important, however, to consider these two aspects when performing A/B testing:
– Make significant changes, rather than small ones: Tweaking your content just a bit, will most likely not bring substantial differences to your conversion rates. Try changing your headline completely, for instance, rather than re-writing one or two words.
– Don't make many changes at the same time: If you perform more than one change, it will be challenging to evaluate what exactly caused a difference in the conversion rates. Take things step by step and be patient.
Some More Tips To Follow
- Include Social Proof On Your Landing Page
Some people are easier to convince when they see social proof on your landing page. Social proof serves as a sort of an endorsement – seeing that a reputable company your audience knows has used your company's product and services, might help your landing page in converting better.
- Segment Your Audience
It is essential to understand that your audience has different needs. Some might have already heard about your product, and some might be completely new to it. For instance, a top-of-funnel user might be interested in getting a free e-book containing useful information. Someone who is closer to the bottom, however, will most likely be interested in testing your product and requesting a demo with a free trial.
- Consider Remarketing ads and Email Marketing
Remarketing ads are targeting people who have already visited your website, but have not completed the desired action – the conversion. Someone might end up converting if they see info related to your business popping up when they scroll through a website or their social media. Email marketing can be also successful in convincing the users who have not yet converted to do so.
- Work On Your Loading Speed
People's attention span is very short nowadays. It is, therefore, extremely important to ensure that your landing pages are fully optimized for various devices and are not taking ages to load. Users might simply abandon your website if it's taking more time than they're ready to allocate, and you won't get the chance to engage with them and showcase your product at all.
- Make Contact Info Readily Available
Your audience might still have questions after viewing your landing page that they'd like to address before converting. You should make it as easy as possible for them to reach out. If you fail to do so, they might get frustrated and abandon your website.
- Add Social Media Buttons To Your Landing Page
This is an excellent way to both grow your follower base by redirecting users to your social media pages and to allow them to get accustomed to your product or service through your social media channels before converting.
Final thoughts
Building landing pages that convert is not easy. There are, however, so many things you can do to increase your conversion rates – try and work on these changes before you make peace with your low conversion rates!